REPORT #106 Sept 1999
A DIFFERENT LOOK AT THE NEW OMBUDSMAN

Produced by the Belize
Development Trust

(Devils Advocate position)

GOVERNMENT OF BELIZE ADMITS FAILURE TO PROVIDE AND CONTROL
GOVERNMENT SERVICES WITH THE APPOINTMENT OF AN OMBUDSMAN!

After 40 years of home rule, self government and independence,
the crowd in Belmopan the capital of the small country of Belize
have finally thrown in the towel. They cannot control the civil
service, nor give the six district towns and estimated 500
villages, government services.

Abuse by the police of human rights and violations of law and
procedures is so common, that only in the case of exceptions when
it occurs to foreigners does the press print anything on police
abuse.

After 40 years, basic government services still do not exist in
most Belizean communities. You cannot get a drivers license, a
passport, or many other such common government services in most
communities, or a telephone, safe drinking water, or electricity
in too many cases.

It isn't for debate, or ability to provide such things; it is
the tangled power politics and African style city-state politics
that are the basic problems. It isn't for lack of good governing
examples, there are a number of cooperatives and associations
that provide examples of successful participatory democracy
throughout the nation of Belize.

The political parties are the main problem and culprit with
this sad state of affairs. They refuse to let participatory
democracy flourish. National party power politics is centered in
only one of six district towns. The old port and ancient one-
time capital of the old British colony. Through the
concentration of population and population centered voter
systems; enclosed in a single layer pyramid hieracheal political
structure; political power is concentrated in this old port. The
policy over the last 40 years by both major political parties has
been to consolidate and concentrate the majority of development
and investment in the old port, for control of power voting blocs
and through these, control of the Treasury, taxes and credit
worthiness of Belize to make foreign loans to support their
political lifetime career lifestyles. Like Africa, this is
creating a megapolis city-state, accompanied with shanty towns
and a permanent increasing poverty disenfranchised class, with no
dignity, or hope of any. Yet, it didn't have to be this way.
The country has a small population and lots of good land for
farming and self subsistance agriculture. Belizeans are land
rich. They may be poor, but can be poor with dignity, food, a
roof over their heads and a piece of land.

Unable to handle, or control the civil service and unwilling
to let go the reins of power and share power with the six
districts in local government multiple layers, accompanied by
standard democratic checks and balances; the political parties
have selfishly kept policy making, political power and the
dictatorial system tightly held in the hands of an elite half
dozen, who control the winning political party apparatus in the
old colonial port town.

The appointment of Ombudsman, Paul Rodriguez is a sop to the
complaining masses. It is also an admission of failure to adapt
to the needs of developing the nation. While the Ombudsman post
is touted by the party elite in the capital Belmopan as a good
thing, it is more an excercise in double speak and cynical power
politics than any serious erosion of centralized political power.
The Ombudsman is passed off as a National six district service;
but in reality, in a country that has a per capita average income
of $2000 per person,( by government figures) the services of the
Ombudsman is restricted mainly to the one district capital town,
out of the six district capitals and to perhaps three nearby
villages, like Sandhill, Ladyville and such. The cost of
availing oneself of Ombudsman services for the rest of the six
district nation towns are estimated to run from $75 to $400
dollars in travel expenses, hotels, meals, days lost and taxi
fares. If you had to make more than one trip to his brand new
office, it would cost astronomical portions of your average
annual income for the average citizen. Already costing nearly
one quarter of your annual income to avail yourself of any
theoretical Ombudsman services, for the average citizen in the
other five districts of the country. It is even expensive for
many villages in the same Belize District in which the old port
town lies. The Ombudsman has no legislative power to fire civil
servants, prosecute perpetrators like corrupt police, or defend
citizens from human rights abuses. His post is a sham!

Like Ombudsmen appointments worldwide, the post is a political
gambit and rear guard action by political parties to defend their
turf against complaints from citizens. To show these political
leader/rulers mean well, but are helpless. It is all a lie of
course! The political parties have been fighting a rearguard
action against the dissemination of political power and policy
sharing for 30 years, with vague promises of eventual local
governments held out to out-district constituents. For nearly 13
recent years, there has been a concerted civil campaign to
diffuse political power and apply democratic principals of veto
on policy making, petitions for referendums, through various
strategms and re-structuring of the Constitution and political
power. Both major political parties continue to offer
platitudes, slogans and promises without any action. The
Ombudsman office by political observers is judged an expression
of defeat and defiance. The current system cannot supply good
managed government, does not supply fairness, does not supply
control of civil servants and the bureaucracy, police and
military arms. Nor will the Ombudsman make any difference. He
may satisfy some citizens in the home base of power politics in
the port town and a couple of villages, but otherwise the whole
Ombudsman affair is a "red herring", a distraction. A piece of
cosmetic tinkering to give the appearance that the parties
controlling the country really care. The whole affair could
easily be solved by major constitutional reform, giving district
governments; district shares of national revenue, basic autonomy,
and local management. With veto power over national policy, the
foreign debt loans and final decision making, Belize would be a
vastly improved different place, but it is unlikely to become so
without a revolution. The career political party mafioso will
defend their priviliges and perks to the end.